March 2006
Bureaucracy, Legal, Media, Police, Politics And so a month after the first arrests were made The Constabulary continues to make its case against the two individuals suspected of running The Sandernacht Group. Neither can be named for legal reasons, although photographs of both appeared in the press early in the investigations. Indeed, a blanket ban has been issued to all media groups about revealing further details of the two suspects (or the third suspect, of whom only photo-fit details have been released) until a conviction has been secured. Unfortunately this has done little to protect the two defendants due to a number of prominent conspiracy related websites continuing to post details of them, much to the annoyance of The Constabulary. Legal, Media, Police, Underworld As The Constabulary continues to make its case against the two accused of running The Sandernacht Group, the number of arrest made in conjunction with investigation continues to rise as evidence against more and more gang members is found. So far over thirty people have been arrested as part of the investigation, although The Constabulary is keen to point out that only half have those have subsequently been charged. The big question remains; who was their original source and have they put them into protective custody yet? Finance, Industry, Media, Police, Politics The fallout following the Sandernacht arrests continues for the business community as more and more are alleged of money laundering and other illegal activities possibly linked to The Sandernacht Group. Inevitably this has had a knock on effect on the city’s economy as well, with numerous other small suppliers also beginning to feel the backlash. Meanwhile, The Constabulary has been forced to allow Daniel Stein Investments to continue to trade following the intervention of local government ministers. No further comment on the matter has been made. Street, Underworld Okay, so we’re supposed to believe that some investment banker and a night club impresario are the brains behind the biggest criminal organisation in the city and that they’ve managed to keep their noses clean until know? And they’ve got all these false names and identities, none of which The Constabulary can pin to them? If this is the case, who was that Harold Williams guy that got killed a couple of years ago? If you ask me there’s something not right about all of this and The Constabulary are being played as much as every other pasty involved in this. ~ Unidentified Loon, Hanley Bus Station. High Society, Media, Underworld With the new found notoriety of its owner, Mr. Redd’s has experienced an upsurge in business over the last months has the city’s young and fashionable attempt to cash in on the publicity. The three clubs were closed for a week following the arrest of their owner, but the effect on the business was noticeable from the first nights with queues stretching around the block for the re-opening. Business has remained brisk since, but so far the main attraction has not appeared; Nathanial Redd or Redhill or whatever has yet to appear. Health, Police, Underworld Whilst The Constabulary has its own investigation, The Sandernacht Group also seems to be clearing shop as well. Known snitches are turning up all over the place, and in all kinds of states. Of course, the more bodies pile up the more The Constabulary investigates, but that doesn’t appear to be stopping them. And at the centre of this carnage are the two suspects, but of course none of the evidence points to them. But what if someone is using The Constabulary to do their dirty work? What if one of the other gangs (maybe The Consortium, after all there seems to be some issues between the two groups) leaked info in an effort to get The Sandernacht Group to turn on itself? Occult, Street, Underworld Okay, theory time; what if The Sandernacht Group and The Consortium were both run by the same people? Bear with me on this. So these two guys that no one’s seen having any involvement with The Sandernacht Group are arrested, and all the evidence suggest they’ve got some possible involvement with organised crime but no one can prove any links with The Sandernacht Group. What if they were looking in the wrong place? What if they’re involved in The Consortium, which is an offshoot of The Sandernacht Group trying to take some of the pressure off The Sandernacht Group? I know it sounds far fetched, but isn’t that possible? Media, Police, Street So The Consortium tries to muscle The Sandernacht Group out of the drugs trade in the city, cleaning up the streets. The Sandernacht Group fights back by flooding the market with product. The Constabulary gets pissed at the both of them and ups the scale of its investigations. Meanwhile, one of them hires some whacked out loon to go round killing coppers left right and centre, seemingly with no logical explanation. And to top it all off, it turns out that there have been a number of intelligence agents in the city watching everything to make sure nothing goes wrong and they end up dead as well? No wonder John Winters is looking so stressed. Bureaucracy, Finance, Legal, Media, Police, Politics Once again Audax has stepped in as the defence in a high profile case, despite no other legal firm in the region being willing to touch it. This marks the second time that Audax have been the defence on a high profile case that the rest of the industry has rejected, which has led to claims of show boating by some. Still, Audax remains unperturbed and has met the five million pound bail claim for each defendant which at least indicates that they have the financial clout to back what may be a long trail. Finance, Legal, Police Whilst the reason for Audax defending Andrew Sant was clear (it was a high profile case that was deemed un-winnable so they had nothing to lose), the reasons for defending the two Sandernacht suspects are less clear, after all organised crime cases can reflect badly on all parties once the accusations of corruption start flying. In light of this, a number of their financial and industrial clients have expressed doubts over the future of the company, despite a recent national expansion. With the massive bail payout in connection with the Sandernacht suspects, Audax are going to have to review their financial situation carefully over the coming months. Media, Police, Politics John Winters has announced a full investigation into the activities of The Constabulary in the weekend following the death of Detective Richard Summers, specifically the actions of a number of its officers in making unlawful arrests. Winters is keen to point out that although officers were under a lot of stress due to the events of the weekend, this does not mean that proper procedure should be ignored. However, he also noted that by the end of the weekend, he had once again managed to instil a sense of normality to proceedings and that the legality of the two Sandernacht suspects was personally approved by the Chief Constable’s of all of the forces involved. Preliminary findings are expected next month. Health, Legal, Police Whilst John Winters turns The Constabulary in on itself, officers from Special Branch have been called in to investigate the deaths of over a dozen officers following a raid on one of the city’s safe houses. Officers were called to the scene following a tip off by surveillance that a group was seen raiding the location. They responded within five minutes of the call and had begun to make arrests when a third, as yet unidentified individual, entered the premises and began to fire at officers. Officers did not have time to return fire, and the individual was seen leaving the property by the rear. Shortly afterwards, the initial group left the premises, but not it seems, before ensuring that the premises would be burnt afterwards. Forensic teams continue to investigate the scene but have yet to produce any findings. Bureaucracy, Police, Politics Following the events of February, Chief Constable John Winters has been called before the city’s councillors to explain the actions of his officers over the weekend. The hearing, which was closed to the public, focussed on accusations of police brutality during the first weekend of the month. Although neither Winters nor the councillors involved have commented on the meeting since, over thirty officers have been suspended since pending a full investigation of their activities. In addition, Winters has agreed to a full investigation of his actions over the weekend by the Cheshire Authorities. Health, Media, Police Chief Constable John Winters appears to have recovered from the stress he was suffering last month, although the fact that the secret investigations he was leading have now gone public will have relieved some of the pressure. Consultants at his annual medical noted that he was one of the fittest fifty year olds they had ever examined and that the public should not worry about his health affecting his judgement. The timing is fortuitous, Winters’ approval rating dropped ten percent in the face of the events in February. Occult, Police, Street No matter how many details we hear, one detail remains outstanding regarding the events of February, who made the initial call to The Constabulary regarding the location of the two Sandernacht suspects? The Constabulary doesn’t seem to keen to discover the truth behind this mystery either, noting that in both cases the tip-offs proved to be accurate and that if they were to investigate the source of every piece of information that came in then the flow would dry up. Of course, this hasn’t gone down well with Audax who are no in charge of the defence of the two suspects. Bureaucracy, Legal, Politics So just how many intelligence agencies were in the city at the beginning of February? Obviously Special Branch were involved, they seem to have supplied the majority of the information that led to the identification of the three Sandernacht suspects. It also appears that a number of other, possibly foreign agencies were in the city over the weekend. No one has been formally identified as of yet, but it is rumoured that one of the agencies may have been Italian and that it may have been behind some of the killings over the weekend. Of course, no one will comment officially on any of this and everything is being discussed strictly “off the record”, but you do have to wonder what’s piqued everyone’s interest about the city? Church, High Society, Media, Occult, Police James Helmudson has been placed under house arrest following allegations that his organisation, the Unification Theorists Elect, may be involved in a wide variety of illegal activities including kidnapping, murder and drugs offences. The Constabulary continues to investigate the allegations that were first made by a former member of the organisation that was looking to escape what he described as “an all pervasive cult”, although no evidence of any wrongdoing has yet been found (the initial kidnap of the former member now looks to have been done by a third party). The Constabulary have commented that Helmudson is under house arrest for his own safety after it emerged that there had been attempt on his life earlier in the month, although details of this remain sketchy. Media, Occult, Police, University So an attempt was made on James Helmudson’s life last month, I suppose the big question is by whom? The Unification Theorists Elect have plenty of enemies, albeit of an academic nature, but this is the first time that he has been threatened by physical violence. The Constabulary has commented that it was only because his publisher had provided him with an armoured vehicle for the night that he had survived, had he been driving his own vehicle the attack would have been successful. The authorities are also keen to trace the weapon used as well due to the unusual marks made to the car. Investigations continue. Occult, Street So this pacifist philosopher with no criminal record and a history of aiding The Constabulary has all along been involved in human sacrifices and selling drugs to the public and no ones known? Next you’ll be telling me that he’s also Sandernacht, although I wouldn’t be surprised if however is behind this hasn’t tried that already. I’m not buying it; he’s always been good to me, never a wrong word. Of course, he doesn’t actually know I exist but I still thinks he’s an alright bloke. ~ Unidentified Loon, Hanley Bus Station. Bureaucracy, Industry, Politics, University The house arrest of James Helmudson and the suspension of the Unification Theorists Elect’s activities as placed a severe strain on local universities as they try to fill the holes left in their curriculum by the loss of some of its best tutors. Whilst The Constabulary has promised a swift investigation it may already be too late for some students whose work will now have to be marked by tutors who are not aware of what they have been taught. Local industrialists have also expressed dismay as in response they have been forced to lower the grades that post-graduate candidates require as a result, leading to accusations that they are in turn jeopardising the future of their companies. Church, Media, Occult Rumours of a new religion are beginning to spring up across the city, although no one has any clear information as to what it really is or whether it’s a money making scheme. Both the Anglican and Catholic Church remain sceptical, reporting that independent investigators sent to determine its true nature have been ejected from meetings. As such, no one has any clear ideas as to its true intentions, although given the current curtailment of the Unification Theorists Elect it is possible that they are trying to operate under a different name. Occult, Street Hey, I got details on that new “weird ass cult” that’s sprung up! And I’ll sell it to the highest bidder! What do I want in return, well, that’s simple? If someone can give me an answer for eternal life I’ll tell them whatever they want to know, providing I’ve got an answer of course. Where can you find me? Just follow you nose. Church, Occult Beware the false prophets who seek to colour our view of the eternal, the everlasting, who seek to profit from man’s need for faith. Man needs faith to be true, and few within this city can provide a true reflection of what we need. Those who distort for profit and ideology only damage the truth, and the truth will be needed by all before the end. ~ Caoilfhionn Ashen, Staffordshire Moorlands. Media, Police, Transport Local taxi drivers have reputedly started to carry weapons in their cabs after a series of unexplained muggings left a number injured at the beginning of last month. The attacks are believed to have been motivated by theft and drivers are now being asked to report to their offices on a more regular basis to reduce the amount of cash they are carrying at any one time.